San Francisco’s most and least expensive homes this week

Cow Hollow considers the art and the craft of a deal, while Russian Hill rushes to a bargain

By Adam Brinklow Nov 3, 2017, 2:36pm PDT

Friday is time for the High & the Low, a Curbed column chronicling the most and least expensive homes sold in San Francisco in the last seven days. Here’s this week’s pageant of extremes.

Cow Hollow, of course, gets it name from its onetime use as grazing land for San Francisco farmers, but hasn’t seen anything more rustic and rural than a neighbor’s stray sheepdog in generations.

At least a house like 2636 Union can still invest a bit of brawny, downright burly spirit into the upscale enclave via its lush style. Just looking at that polished woodwork— complemented in the dining room by the bricks of the old fireplace and the strapping ribs of the ceiling beams—is enough to make any house hunters weak in the knees.

This old place dates back to at least 1900, although often that’s a placeholder date that the city uses for pre-1906 homes without surviving records; it’s possibly even older. The extended family of its previous owners (one recently deceased) included several noted philanthropists, a onetime state assemblyman, and globe hopping diplomats.

Speaking of money, the listing for this five-bed, four-and-a-half-bath, 5,700-square-foot treasure trove asked $9.75 million in September, but fell a fraction short by selling for just over $9.28 million this week instead. But you can’t lose for winning with that kind of money.

And this week’s least expensive home sold (at least among public listings) makes a surprise foray into Russian Hill, a neighborhood normally likely to host the higher end of the sale spectrum.

In this case, unit A unit at 2124 Hyde, a studio dating back to 1913, sold

for the low, low price (by Russian Hill standards, anyway) of $400,000 on the dot this week, a slight but appreciable appreciation on its $379,000 asking price.

The reason why such a pretty picture of a home just a block south of the Lombard Street bends and a few doors down from the Hyde Street cable car is bringing in less than half a million in 2017 is simple: It’s a Tenant In Common building. Note that the entire building sold for $640K just four years ago.